Day three was hot again so we opted for something indoors. Because our hotel was not near downtown we again opted to drive and found there was ample parking (in unrelated buildings) behind the Air & Space Museum on the National Mall.

We have been here before. Some things the boys wanted to see again were the plane and cockpit you can enter as well as the walk-through of the Skylab. See a theme? For some reason the walk-through of the mock aircraft carrier is not as big a draw. They also complete planes and spacecraft. We still have a harder time convincing them to read all the smaller displays although we adults would like to.

Once again we tried to go through in an order different from what we may have done before. We headed for the space area on the eastern end of the first floor first. Space interests everyone in our house so it was a soft entry.

We were going to stop into the large McDonald’s for lunch, but found it closed for renovations. (I don’t know if it will be a McDonald’s after again or not.) In its place they had fridge and freezer cabinets with sandwiches, salads, and microwaveable stuff. None of it was very kid friendly so we ended up leaving for the nearby McDonald’s and returning after lunch. Thankfully, while crowded, the nearby McDonald’s was big enough to handle the onslaught (I don’t think we were the only ones.). It also had very clean bathrooms!

We returned to the museum after lunch to finish the eastern end of the first floor. We continued with the western end and then headed upstairs. The solar system rooms went quickly, but its always a challenge getting out of “How Things Fly.” It is very popular and they do a good job keeping all of the hands on activities working. This room is a big tricky with strollers though because of its many different levels.

The many levels is a general issue with the National Air and Space Museum as multiple exhibits have stairs and most do not have ramps at all. We’re curious how things will look after the massive renovation that is just getting underway. For those considering visiting over the next two years, read up on the state of the renovations before you go. Because of the extensive nature of the renovations, at various times significant chunks of the museum will be closed. Some of the exhibits will be temporarily relocated to the Annex also so if you want to see a specific thing you will need to do some research.

The rooms on the west end that focus on the early years of flying were interesting for the kids because they had complete aircraft. Same for the military rooms upstairs, although note that those are fraught with stairs.

The boys were interested to spend time in the rooms covering the Wright Brothers and the Apollo missions. Stairs weren’t an issue here with the stroller, which was nice. The final room we went in was “Time and Navigation.” This is probably the least approachable for kids in its current form, though there is plenty for the adults to absorb. We never really get to spend enough time there to read everything.

Plus we were going a bit fast at this point so we could sneak over next door before it closed. See the post next Wednesday (yes, a special one, but it will be short) for exactly where!

Continuing on our DC area trip, on Day 2 we went to the National Zoo. It was very hot (as one should expect in DC in August), but the chance of rain was lowest so we opted for this outdoor activity. We had been here once before, but not the two-year old and we though she would really like it.

Last time we took the subway; this time we drove and parked onsite. I didn’t find either transportation method to be particularly difficult. If we had been staying near a METRO stop we would have taken it again, but we weren’t.

Our youngest has a thing for elephants recently so we spent a lot of time with those.

We saw just about all of the exhibits, including the pandas who were outside for the first time I’d ever seen.

A few exhibits were closed and the big cat area seemed to be sparsely populated, but neither was enough of an issue to cause concerns.

I like that this zoo is clean and less smelly than others. We also appreciated the farm area. While we used to live near farms and therefore saw cows and chickens rather regularly. But, that is much less common today so its nice to see those animals entering zoos along with the more standard African safari fare.

Near the parking entrance they seemed to be finishing up a brand new bathroom complex and kid’s play area. The play area wasn’t open yet, but looked fun.

We took the full day and saw just about everything. We missed one house, reptiles maybe? It is hilly, but I’m not sure what they could do about that. Some of the buildings have a very old school feel to them. Having been to more recently built zoos, this is noticeable. But, its over 100 years old and still very popular so there is something to that too. The kids did notice the lack of giraffes and some other seemly “standard” zoo animals, but everyone did enjoy what there was to see.

That being said, we had a few issues. The food was hit or miss. They had no “basic” juice for kids, or milk. When I ordered the bacon cheeseburger (only burger on the menu), I was told they were out of bacon. You can bring your own food and it’s definitely worth it. What they did haven’t wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great and it was expensive. At least bring your own drinks.

We also had an issue with the bathroom signs. In one case I tried to follow the signs (and asked a few staff along the way) and from almost the middle ended up all the way at the parking exit to use the bathroom. This is a long way for a five-year old. As it turns out I could have found one quicker to the right, but the sign pointed left. Something in between would have been greatly appreciated. It’s not that the bathrooms were hard to find, just that they were very far apart.

In summary:

plan for a full day.

bring your own food, or at least drinks, especially if you have a stroller to put it on.

follow the loop from either the parking or METRO entrance to see pretty much everything.

I let you know already that we spent in a week in the DC area in August. Some of these places we had been to before, but enjoyed. Others were new to us (or some of us as I had actually been to all of them years ago). So, over the next few weeks I’ll give you an overview of each of the five places we went, in order.

Day 1 was at Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. We have been there twice before; it is a favorite every time. The kids love the scale of the place – the big hangers with complete airplanes and helicopters are a wonder to behold. It really does take a full day to take it all in, especially if you want to see one of the IMAX movies.

We decided to go here first because there was rain in the forecast (see clouds above, although it didn’t rain) and it was the shortest drive after a long travel day. We also consciously did the loop in the museum in reverse of our usual order as folks do tend to tire towards the end.

The museum is basically “T” shaped and divided into three categories: military, space, and civilian. There is also a restoration hanger, a control tower where you can watch planes landing at Dulles airport, simulators, and IMAX movies. We did the civilian planes first.

Then we looped back for lunch (McDonald’s, though they will let you bring in food). As we passed the cockpit of the Enola Gay the boys remarked on its similarity to the Millennium Falcon.

After lunch we went up to the control tower and purchased tickets for the older ones to watch one of the IMAX movies later in the afternoon. The wind direction was perfect because planes were coming in to land on either side of the museum’s control tower such that they were almost at eye level as they went past. (More on this later.)

After lunch we went to the military wing.

The older boys are finally getting old enough to understand the sides in the World Wars, the existence of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the significance of the military in general.

I always appreciate it when they leave some airplanes in an un-restored state. Dusted and cleaned up a bit yes, but not patched/painted/etc.

Finally, we headed to the space wing. I finally figured out the corner to wedge into to get the entire space shuttle in one picture!

The space wing has many more small displays and plaques to read than the other areas. In this way it is the most like the main Air & Space museum downtown.

Finally, we sent the older ones off to their IMAX movie and I took the younger three up the observation tower again. It was packed! What I didn’t realize initially is that most folks up there this time were plane spotters. This because obvious a few minutes later when an Airbus A380 came right past the window. I was so busy showing it to the kids that I didn’t get a picture of it until it was past us landing. But, I did get a picture of the Boeing 747 that came a few minutes later. You can imagine the even larger plane this close! Definitely not some thing you see often.

Anyway, after the A380 went by almost 2/3 of the crowd headed for the elevator. I also because aware of the number of people checking their phones to see which planes were coming next. That’s how I knew to be more ready for the 747. Apparently after the 747 went by there weren’t any other big planes due (at least for a while) because everyone headed for the exits. We stayed a bit to let the crowds clear and then headed down to meet the rest of our group and end our visit.

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About Me

Welcome! I’m Nora. We have 5 boys and 1 girl. I write about the practical stuff that we call life – managing school, sports, and all things suburban. I get everyone where they need to be, with their stuff, when they need to be there and write about how that all gets done.